SYDNEY, Dec. 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Novogen Ltd (ASX:
NRT, NASDAQ: NVGN) is an Australian/US biotechnology company that
has developed a first-in-class experimental chemotherapeutic known
as Cantrixil, which is due to enter a first-in-man
clinical study in 2015.
The Company has posted a video on its website reporting on the
status of this clinical trial program. The video can be accessed
via its YouTube channel here: http://goo.gl/ljpl6M
Cantrixil is a unique development in chemotherapy, being the
first cytotoxic chemotherapy to be developed specifically for
injection into the body's cavities. The peritoneal and pleural
cavities are involved in a large proportion of cancers, and yet the
vast majority of chemotherapies continue to be administered in a
way that delivers chemotherapies to the cancer via the
bloodstream.
Delivering the drug directly
into the cavity where the cancer is spreading ensures cancer cells
are exposed to levels of drug some hundreds of times greater than
via the blood.
Cantrixil has been developed jointly by Novogen and Yale University and is owned by their joint-venture
company, CanTx Inc.
Cantrixil is a construct of active drug candidate, TRXE-002, in
a cyclodextrin shell. On injection into the cavity, the shell
dissolves to release the active drug. Cantrixil has been designed
to be non-irritant and to not be dose-limiting due to
side-effects.
As Novogen and CanTx CEO, Dr.
Graham Kelly, explains in the video,
"The outstanding feature of Cantrixil is its ability to kill the
full range of cancer cells within a tumour. If we are to make any
meaningful progress in the survival prospects of patients with
cancers such as those of the ovary, uterus, oesophagus, stomach,
appendix, large bowel, pancreas and lung, then we have to find a
way of killing the cancer stem cells that maintain the cancer."
TRXE-002 is the first drug candidate to emerge from the Novogen
super-benzopyran drug platform that for the first time kills all
forms of cancer cells through a common mechanism. The platform does
not rely on a targeted therapeutic approach of identifying a cancer
stem cell market, a strategy that carries the risk of the cancer
cell developing detours around the blocked target.
Dr. Kelly also explains how, in
a world-first, Cantrixil has proven, in a stringent animal model of human
ovarian cancer, to completely block
cancer development.
Cantrixil is set to come into the clinic in Australian hospitals
in the first instance, followed by US centres. The Phase 1
study will be enrolling patients with a variety of cancers that
either have arisen in the abdomen or have metastasised there and
which have become unresponsive to therapy.
To stay informed about the Novogen clinical program, readers are
invited to sign up to receive the Company newsletters and press
releases by visiting www.novogen.com or contacting Novogen
directly.
About CanTx
CanTx Ltd is a private biotechnology company based in
New Haven, Connecticut, and
established as a joint venture between Novogen and Yale University. CanTx is dedicated to the
development of anti-cancer drugs for the treatment of ovarian
cancer.
About Novogen Limited
Novogen is a public, Australian drug-development company whose
shares trade on both the Australian Securities Exchange ('NRT') and
NASDAQ ('NVGN'). The Novogen Group includes a New Haven
CT -- based joint venture company, CanTx Inc, with
Yale University.
Novogen has two main drug technology platforms:
super-benzopyrans (SBPs) and anti-tropomyosins (ATMs). SBP
compounds have been created to kill the full range of cells within
a tumor, but particularly the cancer stem cells. The ATM compounds
target the microfilament component of the cancer cell and when used
in conjunction with standard anti-microtubular drugs, result in
comprehensive and fatal destruction of the cancer cell's
cytoskeleton. Ovarian cancer, colorectal cancer, malignant
ascites, prostate cancer, neural cancers (glioblastoma,
neuroblastoma) and melanoma are the key clinical indications being
pursued, with the ultimate objective of employing both technologies
as a unified approach to first-line therapy.
Further information is available on the Company's website,
www.novogen.com.
For more information please contact:
Corporate Contact
Executive Chairman & CEO
Novogen Group
Graham.Kelly@novogen.com
+61 (0) 2 9472 4100
Media Enquiries
Operations Manager
Novogen Group
Cristyn.Humphreys@novogen.com
+61 (0) 2 9472 4111
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SOURCE Novogen Ltd